We may be working harder, but we’re not all living longer

Article published: Thursday, June 23rd 2011

When Danny Alexander announced plans to link the public sector retirement age to the state pension age in order to increase it to 66, he repeated a common myth: “We are all living longer, that means more years spent in work as well as in retirement.” The same myth was used to justify Tory proposals [...]

Lobbying at the Tory Conference

Article published: Monday, October 19th 2009

It’s been over a week since the Tory conference left town. For several days, inside the almost militarised city centre, shadow ministers and carefully briefed mouths gushed ‘honesty’. Manchester didn’t seem to pay that much attention. Manufactured ovations to parts of Cameron’s speech and interviewees practically reading off their hands to emphasise how great Dave is on poverty and ‘our boys’ in Afghanistan weren’t fooling anyone.

Fictional Crime Drama: Chris Grayling's warped view of Moss Side

Article published: Thursday, August 27th 2009

Epsom in Surrey, an affluent commuter town on the chalk downs of Surrey that Location, Location, Location named the ‘Best place to Live in the UK’ in 2005. It’s just the kind of place you might expect to find a man like Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary. Grayling is an Oxbridge graduate, and before [...]